Best Practices for Mindfully Growing Your Instagram Following

Social media followings have become a new measurement of currency. Accounts with large followings generate big business and even bigger payoffs, leaving the rest of us wondering how to catch up. But with social media’s ever-increasing popularity, and the growing amount of bot accounts and fake followers, it can be a little overwhelming to keep up with it all.

As much as social media is an art, it’s also a science — and one that many of us spend a lot of our day thinking about. To help you grow your following, (and develop an authentic connection with your existing audience), we’re breaking down the best ways to organically grow your social media presence, ignore the bots and get more followers.

Choose A Theme

Give your followers a reason to visit your page. Having a sense of consistency, whether it’s visually or through your message, is an important step on the path to growing an audience. Focusing on a specific theme helps to focus your page and not only give people a reason to follow you, but to stay following.

Do You

Hard as it may be on Instagram or the social network of your choice, the best way to organically grow your following it to be yourself. At this point in the social media game, audiences have developed fatigue and need a reason why they should follow your account over another. With that in mind, focus on the one thing that makes your account different from every other account out there — you. The only truly different thing you have to offer over another entrepreneur or account is your point of view. Maybe it’s posting specific business advice targeted to high-vibe entrepreneurs, maybe it’s your style or a particular aesthetic or maybe there’s a cause or goal you believe in and are passionate about. Whatever it is, focus on sharing your point or vision and stick with it.

Let Perfection Go

Overly staged or edited Instagram photos don’t feel as fresh as they did in the early days of the platform. This doesn’t mean you should just throw anything up on social media, but instead, don’t worry about everything being perfect all the time. Occasionally post a photo that’s less-than-perfect, or utilize Instagram Stories to show your followers the real story behind the scenes. You don’t have to go as far as having a finsta or rinsta (a “fake Instagram account” that’s hyper curated vs. a “real Instagram account” showing what your real life looks like), but don’t worry about getting some cords or dust in a photo or series of stories every now and then. It makes you more relatable, and more you.

Utilize Helpful Tools & Metrics

There are always tried and true optimization techniques and tools available to help grow your following — using hashtags and tools to track your followers can be helpful, as is learning the best time of day and day of the week to post. This is a great way to help initially grow your following and get your account going, but proceed with caution. We’re hesitant to put too much focus on these techniques because ultimately the best thing you can do is create an interesting account with a fresh visual perspective people will want to follow. Utilize optimization tools but don’t obsess over them — focusing on your message and staying consistent with your theme will help you more than anything else.

Still struggling with your voice on social media? We can help. Reach out to Kristin and the rest of the DesignGood team today and learn how to grow your audience.